Prewett Bizley show how going Passivhaus increases comfort and quality for people who don’t worry about energy costs.
Passivhaus, or Passive House, was originally all about saving energy and sets strict limits on heat loss and air infiltration. The very rich people in this world don’t worry much about energy costs, yet more and more of the nicest houses in the world are being built to Passivhaus standards. One incredible example is this Bloomsbury Town House in London, renovated by Prewett Bizley Architects.
Originally built in 1820 and previously used as office space, the architects, working with interior designer Emily Bizley, restored it to single family glory. It also had “the added ambitious target of pushing its energy efficiency towards Passivhaus Enerphit standard.”
Enerphit is a standard developed for renovations, and slightly relaxed from the Passivhaus standard. It’s still tough, and even though it appears that they missed the airtightness test by just a bit, the results are still spectacular.
Sometimes the goals of those in the architectural preservation world clash with those in the energy conservation world, and in this case it appears to have been quite the battle; according to the Architects Journal:
There is a lot to read between the lines in that paragraph; anyone who cares about architectural preservation (and I am past president of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, where I fought these battles many times) knows that windows are the eyes into the soul of buildings. Old windows are also capable of being pretty energy efficient if restored, but not if you are aiming for anything near Passivhaus standard. So a lot of choices had to be made about how far to go to meet these tough standards.
This is a lot of work. If you don’t have to worry about the price of a few watt/hours, why bother going for Passivhaus or Enerphit? What’s the benefit in spending that time and money? New York architect Mike Ingui, who does a lot of high end renovations, explains that his clients love the quiet and the air quality, but also, since they are sharing walls with neighbours, the lack of dust and bugs coming through the party walls. Once you are building at this stratospheric level, the cost premium for going Enerphit or Passivhaus is pretty minimal. Sometimes Mike doesn’t even tell his clients he is doing Passivhaus; it is just his standard.
Robert Prewett tells the Architects Journal:
It is a challenge. Passivhaus and Enerphit set difficult goals. Heritage preservationists are attacked all the time for letting silly things like windows stand in the way of energy conservation. Prewett Bizley have shown that one can achieve both. They also help make the point that Passivhaus isn’t just the best standard of efficiency; it is also the new standard for luxury.
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